Evans benefits from GC stalemate Golf Tips

Evans benefits from GC stalemate

July 15, 2011, 8:32 am

PLATEAU DE BEILLE, France, July 16 (Reuters) – Cadel Evans emerged as a credible Tour de France favorite after the big guns played out a frustrating stalemate in the 14th stage on Saturday.

The Australian looked at ease in the last stage in the Pyrenees as the Schleck brothers failed to drop him in the final ascent to the Plateau de Beille and he still lies third overall, 2:06 behind Frances Thomas Voeckler.

Evans, the 2009 world champion, is a much better time trialist than Frank and Andy Schleck and he is expected to gain considerable time in the final solo effort against the clock in Grenoble next Saturday.

Frank has a 17-second advantage over Evans, while Andy trails the Australian by nine seconds.

“Its another day spent controlling the other major contenders. Its tough for me to stay close to them,” Evans told reporters.

“I tried to keep it under control. It was a long ascent but it was not that steep so I could hang in there.”

Evanss rivals should now have only two major Alpine stages in Serre Chevalier and at the summit of lAlpe dHuez, to drop him.

“The big fight did not really happen but the Schleck brothers attacked time and again,” Evanss BMC team manager John Lelangue told reporters.

“There were some opportunities (to attack) but the goal was not to expose ourselves and risk a counter attack to lose much more ground.

“Were a bit at a standstill.”

Three-time champion Alberto Contador, who lies in seventh place overall 1:54 adrift of Evans and is also expected to gain time over the Schleck brothers in the final time trial, said: “Every day that goes with the Schlecks not taking time off Evans is making victory harder for them to claim.”

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